


A Work In Progress (By V. Tethras)

by sunspot (unavoidedcrisis)



Category: Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Camping, F/F, First Kiss, Sunsets, Varric Tethras Writes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-23
Updated: 2018-09-23
Packaged: 2019-07-16 01:11:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,705
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16075244
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/unavoidedcrisis/pseuds/sunspot
Summary: Varric Tethras, the merciless matchmaker he is, writes a first chapter. Someone else can write the second.





	A Work In Progress (By V. Tethras)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Sumi](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sumi/gifts).



It's the height of summer and Malika Cadash wants nothing more than to soak up the heat and lay her head in the grass at Skyhold for another day or so. But she's had five glorious days of rest, relaxation, and relative peace and now it's time for her to pack her things and head out. Leliana had sent a scout that morning to deliver the reconnaissance report about the Hissing Wastes (supposedly as empty as the report is) and that's Leliana's fairly pointed way of telling her to shift her bones.

She heads west, with the sun setting in her eyes, and Dorian and Varric riding on either side. Conversation flows easily, even with the possibility of facing trouble on the road as they get closer to their forward camp on the edge of the Wastes.

Cassandra rides slightly ahead, ostensibly as a scout, but Malika is worried she's upset. After the bear fiasco in the Hinterlands, Cassandra was very emphatic in her request not to be involved in that sort of thing again, and every new report warns that animal activity in the Hissing Wastes is high.

Malika urges her draft pony on a little faster to catch up to Cassandra.

"Hey there," she says, hoping Varric and Dorian won't catch too much.

"Inquisitor."

"Are you mad I asked for you to come?" Malika asks. She could beat around the bush, but what's the use? They're stuck with each other now at least until they're heading back to Skyhold, but more realistically, probably until Corypheus is defeated or one of them dies.

Cassandra glances sideways at her, eyebrows knitted together. "Not at all. Why would you think that?"

"You've been quiet." The idea that Cassandra may be mad at her, for whatever reason in the world, causes not a small amount of discomfort.

"I speak my mind when I am angry, Inquisitor. I would have told you."

Malika nods along. "Good. Because we're going to be out here for a while. Maker knows I don't want to be stuck with only those two for company."

A smile quirks Cassandra's lips. "Indeed not."

They camp for the night just off the road. They haven't passed any other travellers on the road in a full day, but they take turns on watch anyway.

"I wrote a little something," Varric says, handing a sheaf of papers to a bleary-eyed Malika when he rouses her for her shift. "If you get bored of watching the sand shift."

He's asleep before she's had a chance to even pick her way around Dorian to get out of the tent. Malika's been extremely jealous of his talent for immediate slumber since she first saw it happen. Lucky bastard.

She sits by the fire on a fallen log for a few minutes, just soaking up the night air and the distant sounds of the near-desert. It's a beautifully clear night with the moon hanging above her larger than she's seen in a long while. Even still, she moves closer to the fire for more light to read by.

> _A Work In Progress  
>  By V. Tethras_
> 
> _They rode side by side, the woman sitting tall and proud in her saddle, and the dwarf trying to shrink down to nothing, to make herself a smaller, more inconspicuous target. They made a ridiculous pair, but there weren't others on the road today to see them._
> 
> _"How far are we going, my friend?"_
> 
> _The dwarf laughed, a full-throated sound that the other woman couldn't help but smile at. "If I told you, it wouldn't be a secret, Cassandra."_
> 
> _"Ah, I see."_
> 
> _When they rounded the next corner on the road, the dwarf hopped down off her mule and started walking away into the underbrush without another word._
> 
> _"Malika?" Cassandra called out after her. When there was no response, she followed._
> 
> _Malika, her friend, confidant, and fearless leader, was standing by the edge of the bluffs by the river, smiling faintly out over the scenery._
> 
> _"Malika?" Cassandra tried again._
> 
> _"Come, stand with me."_
> 
> _Cassandra didn't know how the detour and delay was supposed to help them with the ultimate goal of destroying the evil hunting them, but she could rarely deny Malika anything._
> 
> _"Sun's setting," Malika said. It was gorgeous, splashes of russet and red, fading into fiery autumn oranges and soft yellows._
> 
> _"It's truly gorgeous --"_
> 
> _"You're gorgeous." Malika interrupted her often, and for a range of reasons, but never like that before._
> 
> _"I beg your pardon?"_
> 
> _"You're gorgeous. Better than this sunset. I've thought that since the moment I laid eyes on you, even though you had me chained up."_
> 
> _Cassandra scoffed, not believing what she was hearing. "Inquisitor, I --"_
> 
> _"And you're so much more than just gorgeous. You're smart, you're dedicated, and you're so, so brave. You're strong, stronger than --"_
> 
> _Blushing redder than the sunset, Cassandra waved her hand for quiet. "Inquisitor, please!"_
> 
> _"I'm sorry, but I have a speech prepared," Malika said, letting her rakish grin take over her better sensibilities._
> 
> _"I'll not hear it," Cassandra told her, and before Malika could say another word, the Seeker bent to press their mouths together._
> 
> _"I can't believe it took me a better part of a year to get you to do that," Malika said, when they finally separated. She was dazed, eyes glassy and wide from want, probably looking stunned and lost, but she was delighted to see that Cassandra looked about the same with her lips wet and still parted._
> 
> _"I've been waiting. I thought you never would."_

Malika turns the last page over and stares into the fire. Of course she couldn't hide anything from Varric and his nosy writer ways, but he did not need to go this far with it. She considers burning it and cussing him out, then she considers just fleeing into the night, but she can't bring herself to do either, unfortunately.

The crickets and the crackle from the campfire lull her a little, and she lets her mind wander.

"Inquisitor?" Cassandra startles her out of her reverie.

"I wasn't sleeping," Malika says instantly, sitting up straighter.

"I didn't think that. I thought you may want company. It'll be dawn soon."

Malika shifts to make space for Cassandra on the makeshift bench. "Can't sleep?"

Cassandra settles in and chuckles ruefully. "Dorian started snoring."

"Ah." Malika is very familiar. Others may find it endearing, but the unpredictable rhythm of it means once it starts, she's awake. Cassandra is the same, they've determined.

"Do you know what exactly we're to be expecting in the Hissing Wastes?" Cassandra asks. She's toeing in the dirt with her boots, shifting it around and digging a little trench in a semicircle.

"Venatori, big time. Lots of weird beasts. Sand, probably."

"Oh, sand, of course," Cassandra laughs. Malika is in love with the sound of it, the crinkles it puts by Cass's eyes, even with the nervous lump that forms in her throat every time.

When the laugh settles into a contented smile, Malika feels resolve clench like steel inside of her. "Do you want to watch the sunrise with me? That little clearing we came through, just back thataway. It'll be the perfect place."

"I'd… yes, I'd like that, but should we leave camp?"

"Where's the joy in leading the Inquisition if I can't watch a sunrise?" Malika's got a second idea all of the sudden. Things are slotting into place. "Varric! Dorian!"

They stumble out of the tent almost immediately, Bianca and crystal-topped staff at the ready, though Dorian's barely got his eyes open and Varric's missing his boots.

"Great response time! We'll be back in a few minutes. Going to go watch the sun come up, remember why we're even out this far. You're in charge of yourselves until we're back."

"For crying out loud, Cadash!" Dorian rolls his eyes hard enough that Malika can feel it. Varric just flashes her a wicked smile.

Cassandra follows her back down the road to the clearing. "That was a little mean," she says. It doesn't sound like an admonishment, but Malika puts on her most apologetic face when she turns to shrug. "I'm not complaining," Cassandra adds. Malika beams at her.

They watch the sunrise from the clearing, by a knot of acacia trees. "It's a little cool this morning," Cassandra says, rubbing her hands over her arms.

"You're gorgeous."

"Although, I suppose it will warm up once we start moving."

"You're _gorgeous._ "

"I never knew nights were cold in the desert until recently, you know."

"Cassandra! I'm trying to say something here. You're gorgeous, and, and smart, and I think I'm in l--"

Cassandra turns to her and Malika can see she looks pained.

Oh.

"I heard you, Inquisitor. I'm just trying to figure out what to say."

Malika swallows, gritting her teeth. _Oh, shit._ With that expression, anything Cassandra is about to say, is going to hurt, Malika thinks, and she braces herself as best she can for it.

Cassandra takes her hand, then the other. "Inquisitor… Malika."

"It's stupid to fall in love like this, at the end of the world."

"Love." Cassandra weighs the word on her tongue. Malika feels something in her chest melt a little, just like something out of one of Varric's books that Cassandra loves so much.

"Well, maybe not, I don't know, I only meant that…"

"I know what you mean." Cassandra speaks quietly, a smile playing at the corners of her mouth, and yes, Malika sees, at her eyes too. She hopes against hope, and leans up, bringing them closer together.

Cassandra bends forward to meet her lips. The kiss is shy, tentative, slow, everything neither of them normally are. Malika breathes out carefully through her nose. She's dizzy already, head spinning from having Cassandra this close when it isn't the middle of a fight, or a too-cramped tent.

"I don't know how to do this," Cassandra says, when they finally break apart.

"Me neither," Malika admits. "Not really." She presses another quick kiss to the side of Cassandra's lips, earning herself a smile in return. "Maybe we can work on it, together?"

"I'd like that."

Neither of them has Varric's talent for words, but they can be a work in progress together.

**Author's Note:**

> Happy fandomgiftbox to Sumi and to everyone who just wants Cass to get more love. Thank you to sweettasteofbitter for beta help and for their continued excellence in the f/f support field.


End file.
